Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1887-10-20

' ~ deft see iteSsct ~ ltlhkTssit" Agr
NJ ~ course ypld That because t,s WI
are ne reporter, Snd to yoti my l8tsse is good
house so long as tho rooms are clean, COM
Portable md well furnished. Now if You
were an artist you 'wbuld'vety SOON discover.
the dcpravity of New York architecture.
look IT. That hotsa across tile streftpG ! =.
A square plain front this house had, with .
marrow, Gr4,ssless plot oh either Side of 'alt
broad steps. so far this house was as moral
aIdvellf,g ss ta4e ron btthpdox end straight
laced artist could have desired. The windows
,.s<rc hrss ail,ithe ipte1igr was copeealeti by
broad curtains OF a dark green material.
a There was nothing sinful about the windows
The wickeodliess was shown in the roof, which
rns gal'yd '4@tl sotlerwse distorted out of all
sembld,ice Of Christian form. "a -
"Wplps y 10Y spi"k 1T th"t' asked a. the
THAT Is somewhat faulty" ,, 4,ia
} '"Sonbwi,ata IWhyi dear boy not only
breaks nl the cOplnaislments Mt once, but
positively erikd4 the stone Into bahl for its
mortar II that house is nota mortal sin
am no thddlbgian. But that IS dot ala lSok
along that line of abandoned structures. OBJ
..servs tho Easeally contour Of tho roof. There,
il no grace, strength, evenness or picturesque
unevenness in that line. 1t is not even bad
enough to he good, It lacks the graphicivil-
lainy Of a band of Texas train robbers, which,
pleases the eye and interests the intelligence,
however panied the heart may be. 1t only
presents the bold and witless prosness of
collection of stale beer drinkers in an east
side police court on Monday morning. Such
dcpravity is disgusting"
Aren't you little hard on our nrchltec-
turci'
"A MORAL MoNsTRoslTY.
ut is not our architecture. It is not any
one else's architecture. 1t is not architecture
at all. We can't be too hard on such an in
decent exhibition Of criminal taste. In every
large European capital there is asymmetry in
tn. STYLES of architecture 1t is divided into
the DID, the fenaissance and the modern
usually, aud the buildings are grouped toe
aethcr in nn honest and virtuous way. Such
buildings are models They are patterns aud
do the world good. Take Boston, and parts
OF Washington. There you find archirc-
tural rccti,uIa~ But inskev Ncs]tg gall the
crimes in the artistic calendar are exempli'
. fled with u diabolica1 plenitude That must
warm the cookies OF the old boys heart every
time his mind reverts to the subject. Fifth
avenue is n moral monstrosity. Broadway
Is an example of abandoned wickedneSs that
ought to make Christian shudder to con-
template, and the side streets from Tenth
street to the Harlem river contain rampant
crime enough to keep the hangman busy
until the morning after the crack OF doom.
You never looked at it in that light, did
you' e.
''No, not exactly"
well that is not the worst Of it. The ef-
feet of living among sins SO generously dis
played and universally condoned must be per-
ncious in the extreme. 1t stands To reason
that a man must de,eriorate who lives i'll q
structure which has robbed the grave OF tho
Sixteenth century Tor its roof, ,lolen its ssoop
from the tomb If the Seventeenth century,
robbed the archives OF the last century for its
windows, and pprloined its cornices from tho
notebook OF a dipson,aniacal builder in the
last stages of mania potu. Can you be sur
pri-ed when such q man robs bank, murders
his wife, runs for political office or commits
some other social errora No, sir; our alleged
architecture is a ~fruitful cause Of crime,
national curse, q social pest, and tho sooner
law i, enarted furnishing such crimes Us &C.
verely Us they deserve, the better it will be
for this country. What we need Is homo
missionary society for the salvation OF de-
PRAYED buildings, with n mission house on
Fifth avenune. opposite St Patricks cathe
,iral where the chief offenders may have an
opportunity close ut hand to mend the il ways
and he saved before n seismic Nemesis avcngcs
their crimes against patient and outraged
nature New York Mail and Express.